By Madhava Smullen
The Bhadra Campaign is a snowball that just keeps gathering size and momentum.
Also known as “Go to Goloka,” the campaign was launched in 2017 by the BBT Marketing, Communications, and Innovations team headed by Vaisesika Das. It’s inspired by the Srimad-Bhagavatam’s statement that “If on the full moon day of the month of Bhadra one places Srimad-Bhagavatam on a golden throne and gives it as a gift, he will attain the supreme transcendental destination.”
It’s also driven by Srila Prabhupada’s instruction in a 1977 letter to disciples, “I want that every respectable person has a full set of Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritamrta in his home.”
United internationally with leader support to achieve this common goal, devotees leaped from distributing 7,007 Srimad-Bhagavatam sets in 2018 to 24,195 in 2020.
This year, the campaign, which ran from Gaura Purnima (March 28th) to Bhadra Purnima (September 20th) set a goal to distribute 25,000 sets. However, devotees soared far past it, with 262 communities participating to distribute an incredible 35,432 Bhagavatam sets.
According to Vaisesika Das, the campaign’s goal-driven initiatives inspire devotees to participate. As soon as they make a pledge to distribute a certain amount of books, he explains, “It ushers in spiritual energy that allows everything to expand by Lord Chaitanya’s grace.”
Personal, heart-to-heart conversations with devotees about the importance of book distribution, and about how anything is possible by Lord Chaitanya’s mercy, also inspire.
“In one of our weekly global meetings, Mahatma Prabhu said, ‘It's a lot of fun to do the impossible,’ Vaisesika recalls. “One of our mantras is that ‘Birds fly in the sky as high as they can, but the sky is unlimited.’ There is unlimited opportunity to serve, and the only comparison we have is with our own self. Our motto is to do better than ourselves, and everyone’s effort, no matter how big or small, has a contribution to the global team.”
Leading up to Bhadra Purnima, there were regular monthly Zoom meetings, with executive leaders of the Hare Krishna movement sharing inspirational messages, and global team leaders reporting with updates from their regions. During the last month of the campaign, the meetings ramped up to weekly.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/bhadra-campaign-smashes-goal-distributes-35000-bhagavatam-sets,8037/
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